Reflections

On Monday night, I went to see "Love", the brand new Beatles Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage. It was a truly spectacular production, right up to the point where the incredibly complex mechanical stage broke down just under an hour into the 90 minute show! After hanging around for 20 minutes or so, while they tried to fix it and thanked us for our patience several times, the show was eventually cancelled.

This was actually a pretty satisfactory result, as I saw 2/3 of the show, and got my $150 back!

After queuing for my refund, I decided to play at the Mirage, which prior to the poker boom of 3 years ago, was the only significant poker room in Vegas.

I joined a 3/6 game and played for a couple of hours, before concluding that I had no edge against this bunch of off-duty dealers and locals. I cashed out with a small loss to end my poker play for this trip.

Net result for the week saw me win just enough to cover my hotel bill for the trip, which I am pretty satisfied with.

Two key lessons learned on this trip.

1. If you don't like the look and feel of the table you are at (ie if you can't identify the fish that you are targeting), cash out and move on.

2. There is a much greater potential for maximising my advantage in skill level against poor players at No Limit, rather than at Limit tables. Far greater win rates per hour are possible at NL.

I will certainly now focus on playing NL cash games online. I have quite a bit of reading to do to bring my NL play up to the standard of my Limit play, but I believe that I already know enough to be successful at the low buy-in tables (based upon my recent success at NL sit'n'gos online).

This was a extremely enjoyable and reasonably successful trip to Vegas.

Now, back to the real World...!

Football disgraces itself, again!

What is it about the World’s top footballers that seems to encourage them to believe that they can behave with total disregard for common standards of decency and the laws of the game?

Yesterday, Zinedine Zidane, arguably the finest player of his generation, managed to ensure that his memory will be forever tarnished in the eyes of football fans worldwide, by getting himself sent off for a bizarre head-butt in extra time of the World Cup Final.

This one act of madness will overshadow the memories that we all have of the genius that claimed two World Player of the Year titles, as well as scoring arguably the finest big-match goal of all time, in the Champions League Final for Real Madrid a few years back.

But then we might have known that this would happen.

Maradonna, who many people regard as the greatest player of all time, finished his career as a cocaine-addled cheat. Wayne Rooney is already well on his way to being hated in the game as a short-fused psychopath. David Beckham has repeatedly got in trouble for petulant behaviour, even though he hasn’t got the balls to actually kick anybody.

Even our own beloved Thierry Henry will return from the World Cup with his reputation for fair play slightly tarnished. (Although I am convinced that his reaction to the foul by Spain’s Carlos Puyol was an act of well-timed revenge for the kicking that Henry took from the Spanish thug at the Champions League Final.)

Anyway, I for one am delighted that the World Cup fizzled out in controversy and with an anti-climactic Final. The tournament got exactly the champions that it deserved, in the deathly-boring Italians. Thank goodness that the biggest non-event in World sport is now over for another four years.

On the poker front, my education at the table progressed on Sunday, and it didn’t cost me any money to learn a very important lesson, which is always good news.

It has finally sunk in that there are two ways to win money at poker. Either you can sit at any given table and wait for a run of good cards which you then turn into a profitable session, (assuming that you play the given game well enough to capitalise on your good hands). Alternatively, you can carefully select games where you hold a clear advantage in ability over at least some of the other players at the table, in which case you don’t need the best cards to win, you just need to pick the right moment to make the moves that ensure your success. (Actually, there is a third way to make money, which is to play loosely with poor cards and hope to get lucky. This works for some of the people, some of the time, but is a certain route to going broke in the long term.)

The above theory is not rocket science, but it has taken until this poker marathon for me to finally grasp the importance of good table selection.

The problem with putting this theory into practise is that you typically don’t get to choose your table in a casino. You add you name to a waiting list when you arrive at the game, and when your name reaches the top of the list, you are directed to the next available seat.

Prior to the last couple of days, I have always had in my mind a preset number of hours that I have intended to play, and I have always remained in my allocated seat for that period of time, and let the success or failure of the session be at least partly determined by the run of hands that I am dealt.

(This is actually not THAT bad a strategy. I am now a good enough player that I am extremely likely to emerge as a long term winner in this situation, as I do, as a rule, take good advantage of the decent cards when they arrive. However, I was at the mercy of the dreaded theory of variance, which means that there is always the potential that I will experience a much worse run of cards than average, that will ensure that any given session can turn out to be a losing one. Sometimes a big losing one.)

So, on Sunday, I spent the day sitting down for brief periods in a number of different games, none of which I liked the look of. So each time, I exercised my right to stand up, cash out, and move on. The difference in the quality of player in the Luxor NL game compared to the previous couple of days was astounding. I guess that all the drunken weekend crowd had left.

I actually finished the day $1 down overall, from four separate sessions totalling 5 hours, but I did get comped for the buffet at the Wynn, which is worth $35 and was absolutely exquisite!

On Monday morning, I had my usual swim and then headed to the Peppermill restaurant for breakfast, which is something of a Vegas institution. After this, I drove to the Gamblers General Store and bought a few odds and ends including Sklansky’s new NL book.

I then decided to try out the poker room at Treasure Island, and I am very glad that I did!

I sat in a short-handed 2/4 game and began to accumulate chips quite nicely. Soon the game filled up with an assortment of pretty weak players and I enjoyed my most profitable ever 2/4 session, cashing out after 2 hours with a healthy 3 figure win. As I was cashing out, I enquired about the comp balance on my MGM card, and I was kindly given a comp to the TI Buffet. This was not quite as spectacular as the Wynn buffet from the previous evening, but I must say that it was fantastic value at $16 for lunch. Of the all the buffets that I have seen recently in Vegas (Orleans, IP, Bellagio, Wynn, TI), this one is certainly the best value for money.

As this is my last night in Vegas on this trip, I decided to spend my winning from today on a ticket to see the brand new Beatles Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage this evening, which opened last week to rave reviews.

Just time for a couple more poker sessions, before I head home tomorrow afternoon.

No Limit is the Future!

I headed downtown to Binion’s and bought into a 2/4 game. The contrast between the current home of the WSOP, the Rio, and Binion’s where it all began, could not be more stark.

Binion’s has a dark and dingy pool-hall feel to it. There are about 25 poker tables occupying the back part of the casino, the centrepiece of which is the “Final Table” with a modest rail around it. It is difficult to imagine that this is the poker table where every WSOP Champion has been crowned dating back to 1970.

I played for about 90 minutes and enjoyed a good run of cards and cashed out a decent win.

I decided to treat myself to a good steak, and so I rode the elevator up to the roof-top restaurant at Binion’s to eat in the steak house. This was the traditional location for the celebration dinner at the conclusion of the WSOP Main Event each year, and it is an excellent restaurant with outstanding views and very good service.



I returned to the IP and got my head down for a few hours. I actually slept for a bit longer than I intended and woke up at about 1.30am and decided to walk over to the Bellagio, home of the World’s highest stakes poker games (and some 4/8 games as well!)

In the Big Game in Bobby’s room where they usual play a $4000/8000 mixed game, were Gus Hansen, Phil Laak and Freddy Deeb, as well as 4 or 5 guys that I didn’t recognise.

I played 3 hours of 4/8, and recovered from a bad start to book a modest win, to round out by far my best day of the trip so far, in terms of profit.

On Saturday morning, I had a quick swim and then drove over to World’s largest Hotel, the MGM Grand.



I sat at a 2/4 game which was slow and uninspiring. After an hour, I cashed out almost exactly level, before I died of boredom.

I decided to head back across to the Luxor to take another shot at the $50 No Limit game.

I got there just as they were opening a new table, which is perfect, as everyone starts out with $50, which means that nobody has a large stack with which to bully the table.

The play was just as weak as the previous day, and I quickly ran my $50 up to $200 before running into pocket aces and giving some back. I cashed out another nice win after two hours, with the firm intention of returning to this game later that evening.

I returned to the IP for my usual evening nap until I was awoken at 9.30pm by some idiot phoning my room on a wrong number. This turned out to be serendipitous, as I was in a very deep sleep and I might well have slept through and not got out for any late night poker.

I drove back down the Strip to the Luxor in a bit of daze to get back in action.

I am quickly becoming a No Limit convert, as tormenting the fish at the Luxor is quite addictive!

For the second time in a day, they opened a new table as soon as I arrived, so I got to sit with a table of equal stacks. I picked some good spots to bully the table and also had some nice hands held up, with the net result that I cashed out another 3 figure win in the space of 2.5 hours.

I have time on this trip for another 5 or 6 poker sessions. The way that I have run in my first 3 NL sessions at the Luxor, I would be a fool to play anywhere else.

I know that the horrible standard of play at the Luxor is not really representative of live small-stakes NL poker, but I feel that my NL game is improving significantly anyway.

I will give some serious thought to switching to NL online when I get home.

No Limit – Egyptian Style

After sulking briefly after crashing out of the WSOP, I had my usual early evening siesta and then headed to the Venetian for the 3rd night running.

This was a very frustrating session where I couldn’t find a flop, and when I did, my hands just wouldn’t hold up. The standard was generally pretty decent at the 3/6 game, with the exception of one elderly guy who was donating generously to everyone except me!

The only consolation from a disappointing losing session was another excellent comped meal at the Grand Lux Café, this time BBQ Chicken Pizza. Delicious!

Friday morning I decided that I had better expose myself to the sun for the 1st time on this trip, on which I have been keeping mainly nocturnal hours. I hit the pool at the IP at 8.30am for a 30 minute swim and about 15 mins on the sunbed. It must already have been 90 degrees, and was very pleasant. I must try and do this each morning for the remainder of the trip so that I return with at least something of a tan!

I then made a quick trip to Toys R Us to get Anthony some Power Rangers Mystic Force toys, which won’t hit the shops in the UK until after Christmas. (Anyone who doesn’t have a 4 year old boy, won’t understand the significance of this!)

I had read before I came out to Vegas that the No Limit Holdem game at the Luxor has a reputation for attracting very weak and inexperienced players, because the buy-in for the game is only $50, which is half of what it is anywhere else in town.

Sure enough, there were several horrible players in the game, as well as several sharks circling. Having identified one from the other quite quickly, I built up my $50 to over $250, before losing a couple of close pots, and cashing out for a nice 3 figure win.

I will certainly return to this game one evening over the next couple of days, to see how bad the weekend crowd play!

After hitting Starbucks to post this blog update and check out the WSOP results, I am going to make a pilgrimage to the spiritual home of the WSOP, Binion’s, in downtown Las Vegas.

I rather fancy playing a low buyin no limit tournament if there is one available.

I am still having fun!!!

Not a bad debut, but I will do better next year!

I busted out of the $1,500 Limit Holdem Event at the 2006 World Series of Poker about 30 minutes ago.

As best that I could tell, I finished in about 160th position out of 701 entrants. The turnout was a little lower than I expected, as there was also a $5,000 Omaha event starting today. The first prize is about $350k and I needed to make seventieth place to finish in the money.

The event was packed with Pro's, although the only one that I recognised on my table was Aaron Bartley, who was a lot of fun to play with.

Pro players that I laster longer than included, Roland De Wolfe, Alan Cunningham, Kathy Liebert, Kenna James, Greg Mueller and TJ Cloutier!

I survived about 15 minutes into the 5th hour of play. Starting with $1,500 in chips, the highest that I got was to $3,200 after the first 2 hours, where I would have been amongst the chip leaders.

However, I took a couple of heavy beats shortly afterwards, and then never really got much going after that.

It was a fantastic experience, and I am now much more confident that I can hold my own in decent company at Limit Holdem.

I am looking forward to next year already!

Now I need to make some money from the tourists over the weekend...!

Some wild swings, and some great food.

On Tuesday afternoon, I played at the Wynn. In a city that specialises in super-luxury hotels and resorts, the Wynn is the most exclusive and luxurious of them all. It opened in 2005 and is reputed to be running at a monumental weekly loss, despite close to 100% room occupancy.

The poker room at the Wynn is only half the size of the rooms at Venetian or Caesars, but it is beautifully decorated and has great furniture. The lowest limit game they spread at the Wynn is 4/8, and so this (in theory) is where all the fish are to be found. This worked out very well for me on Tuesday, and I spiked my first 3-figure win of the week. One elderly lady of non-specific European origin is worthy of a mention, as she was by far the worst poker player that I have ever seen at a live table. She played any two cards, repeatedly played out of turn, and frequently asked the dealer how many more cards were still to come! She won several large pots (fortunately not at my expense) where her crappy hands completed on the river, but she lost about $500 in a couple of hours.

After a brief siesta, I headed back to the Venetian, and booked my second 3-figure win of the day. The Venetian has a promotion where poker players receive $2/hour in food credits (comps), so I had earned enough for dinner at the noodle bar when I had finished, which was very good. I retired at about 4.30am

On Wednesday morning, I again awoke after far too little sleep, at about 7.30am.

I decided to return to the Wynn for another early session, to see whether the previous day was representative of the general standard of play there or not.

Unfortunately, I proceeded to have a nightmare session, where everything that could possibly go wrong did so. The lowlight of the session was where I was deal pocket aces, in a hand where three of us were all raising before the flop. The board came Jack-high with no straights or flushes possible and we all continued to fire at the pot. At showdown, it turns out that one of the other guys also had pocket aces, and the winner had pocket 10’s and flopped the set! This pot cost me about $75, and the session saw me give back almost exactly what I had won the previous day.

I headed back to the IP at lunchtime to get my room changed to one on the other side of the hotel, that wasn’t overlooking the rock stage(!) After watching the France v Portugal World Cup semi-final, I actually managed to have a proper sleep for the first time on this trip.

I awoke after 4 hours sleep feeling much better and I decided to hit the Venetian again. This hotel is rapidly becoming my favourite in Vegas. The place is truly spectacular, the poker room is the nicest I have played, and the staff are consistently attentive and courteous. (This last point is just a matter of degrees, as staff are always attentive and courteous in the US service industries. It just seems that the Venetian do everything just a little bit better than elsewhere).

They have just begun construction on an adjacent hotel tower that will add another 3,500 rooms that will make the Venetian the World’s largest hotel at almost 8,000 rooms. It will really be quite something when this is completed.

I played for just over 3 hours, and I saw my fortunes reversed from the morning nightmare. I saw some good hands and some nice flops, and I won 3 figures for the second night running at the Venetian.

I quit at 11.30pm and decided to spend my comps on dinner in the Grand Lux Café. I had the BBQ Pork sandwich, which doesn’t sound like much, but might just have been the most delicious thing that I have eaten this year! Everything about it, from the crusty bread, to the crispy fries, to the amazing marinated salad, to the accompanying peanut coleslaw was just exquisite. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, which I am sure helped the experience!

Do you get the idea that I like the Venetian?!

Oh, by the way, a quick weather report. The first couple of days that I was here, there was clear skies at the temperature was 110 degrees. The last two days have been heavily overcast and a much more pleasant 90 degrees.

Tomorrow, I am playing in the World Series of Poker. I can’t wait!!!!

“So, I said to Phil Ivey…!”

No, really. I had a chat with Phil Ivey this morning!

This is 5-time WSOP Bracelet winner Phil Ivey, who many people rate as the best all-round poker player in the World. Phil Ivey, who is a permanent fixture in the Big Game at the Bellagio, playing with Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese and the others in the 4k/8k mixed game, where millions of dollars are often won and lost every night. The man who in February of this year, won $14M in a heads-up match with Texan banker Andy Beal, which was perhaps the biggest poker game of all-time. Tiger Woods look-alike Phil Ivey, who has the most intimidating poker-face stare imaginable.

I went over to the Rio to get a feel for the WSOP venue and to register for my event ahead of Thursday. As I queued up at the cashier in the Exhibition Hall to had over VCPoker’s $1,500, I spotted Phil Ivey at the window towards one end of the line of tellers. As luck would have it, as it was my turn at the head of the line, the window next to where Phil was standing became free.

The most famous face in all of poker was trying to convince the cashier that he had already been entered for today’s Omaha HiLo Split Event by his friend, but that he had mislaid his receipt! He then got on his mobile to his wife to have her search through his trouser pockets at the home. Eventually, to his embarrassment, he found the receipt in his back pocket and all was cleared up. I joked with him about his predicament and then wished him good luck. He was extremely charming about the episode.

As I was wandering around the main hall, I also spoke briefly to veteran TJ Cloutier who is an absolute giant of a man. (not surprising as he was a pro Canadian Footballer for 5 years).

The main hall has something like 220 poker tables spread across a cavernous room. All of the lights and staging area around the final TV-table takes up a good chunk of the room. In the network of corridors surrounding the main hall, there are hospitality suites for some of the larger online poker rooms, Pokerstars, UltimateBet, Paradise Poker, Doyle’s Room etc. (unfortunately, not including VCPoker!) It is a mammoth operation.



After this excitiement, I couldn’t wait to get into action myself, so I dumped my rental car back at the IP and walked across the street to the legendary Caesar’s Palace. The new poker room that Caesar’s opened 6 months ago is vast and somewhat isolated from the rest of the casino. I got seated in a 3/6 game after a 30 minute wait and I played for 3.5 hours, catching a couple of hands early to be up perhaps $100, but then I ran cold for a while and cashed out a small winner.

I then returned to the IP to try and grab some sleep, but this proved to be really difficult, as my room balcony overlooks a live music stage between Harrahs and the IP that has live rock bands playing from noon until 3am every day!



Having dozed for an hour or so, I headed over to Venetian to try out their new poker room. What a classy joint! This is to my mind the best poker room in Vegas. Luxurious, spacious, with very plentiful and very attentive staff. I think that I may have found my home for most of the next week.

I played for 5 hours and booked another small win, before heading home to bed via breakfast at the 24hr Dennys at 3am! Only in Vegas!

Vegas at last!

Singularly uneventful flight with Air Canada from Heathrow via Calgary to Vegas.

Worth noting for future reference is that one is first obliged to clear Canadian customs and immigration and then clear US customs and immigration at the point of departure. Both of these lines were very short and very fast. Much, much easier than entering the USA via a direct flight from Europe.

Upon arrival at McCarron I collected my cheap and cheerful Dollar rental car and headed for the strip.

Check-in at the Imperial Palace (IP) was smooth and I decided to hit the IP poker table for a couple of hours, before the 8 hour time difference drove me to my bed. At this stage I had been up for 28 hours. I ended up playing for 4 hours and finshed very slightly down, without hitting any cards to speak of.

I then had a pretty good reuben sandwich at the 24 hour coffee shop and went to bed!

England get what they deserve!

Well, that is the end of that. It is official. The Swedish moron has wasted the best group of individual players that England have had for over 30 years, by singularly failing to ever get them playing like anything that remotely resembled a team.

As 10-man England predictably crashed out on penalties again, I want to give an honourable mention to 3 players:

Wayne Rooney - spectacularly let England down when the pressure was on, as many of us suspected that you would
Frank Lampard - conducted a one man cows-arse/banjo experiment throughout the tournament, which he carried right to the bitter end in the penalty shoot-out. No bottle.
Paul Robinson - kept goal like a pub footballer from start to finish. Never looked like saving a penalty. What was he doing for the Portuguese 4th kick?????

It's a good job that I don't care about International football, or I would be rather depressed this evening!

As soon as the game finished I popped out to grab a Chinese takeaway, and witnessed the mass-exodus of the bandwagon-jumpers from the pubs in the High St. As the young lads and their girlfriends, all dressed in England shirts, trudged home with faces like kites, it was as much as I could do to avoid bursting out laughing.

I bet most of these imbeciles don't even realise that the World Series of Poker is taking place as they cry into their pints!

I am off to Vegas tomorrow lunchtime!

I very much doubt if I will even bother to watch the World Cup semifinals or the final now, as they kick off at around noon in Vegas, which will be prime sleeping time for me.